Well-known Israeli Singer Died Of Aids, Newspaper Says

JERUSALEM — An Israeli newspaper reported on Monday that an internationally known Israeli singer whose funeral last week drew both the elite and the working class had died of complications from AIDS.

The report, in the daily Haaretz, set off a stormy debate about whether the paper had crudely violated the privacy of the singer, Ofra Haza, and journalistic ethics, or whether it had done a public service by refusing to treat AIDS as a secret illness.

Haza, a Jew whose family came from Yemen, rose from poverty to stardom in a way that inspired many Sephardic immigrants to Israel. She did not want public exposure of her illness and went so far as to keep it secret from the Tel Aviv hospital workers who first treated her in an emergency room two weeks ago, Haaretz said.

In an editorial on Monday, the newspaper said it had felt compelled by widespread rumors about the cause of death, including broad hints on the evening news.

"There is hardly a house in Israel in which the word `AIDS' did not get spoken in recent days," said Yoel Esteron, the managing editor of Haaretz. "And in these circumstances to continue not to publish is to publish something that is not true.

"Ofra Haza was a public figure and to a certain extent public property in her life. In her death it is impossible to leave this chapter in darkness. We are talking about a human disease like any other, and there is no reason to demonize it."

When Haza died on Wednesday at the age of 41, after 13 days in the hospital during which her fans maintained a round-the-clock vigil, the news media reported the cause as organ failure. Many reporters knew the specific cause of death but did not disclose it.

That was the way it should have been, the Health Ministry said.

"There was a consensus to keep silent, even after her death," said Yoram Malca, a ministry spokesman. "I think today Haaretz broke all the norms and ethical and moral standards that we still have in this country.''

A mezzo-soprano who developed an international reputation, Haza sang traditional and pop music and emphasized her roots by performing in elaborately brocaded traditional clothing. She sang the part of Moses' mother in the movie Prince of Egypt.